Amazon is bringing a new AI-powered camera system to the court as the tech giant gets ready to tip off its second season of basketball coverage on Prime Video.
Called Prime 360, the technology uses an array of high-resolution cameras positioned around the arena to capture plays from multiple angles. Amazon’s proprietary AI models then process the footage to create highlight replays that the company says traditional cameras can’t replicate.
The feature will appear during live games and as an analysis tool on the pregame, halftime and postgame shows for select broadcasts. Amazon said it built the system with a team of producers, engineers and AI scientists, using its in-house AWS Trainium chips.
“Think of it like a video game camera,” Josh Green, an associate producer, said in an Amazon video describing the tech (below).
The cameras are calibrated and synchronized, and their footage is sent to the AWS cloud, where each play is reconstructed as a 3D scene — opening up possibilities beyond a normal replay.
“I want to see this play again, and you could actually fly the camera through the play,” said Wade Wakashige, a director of product. The view gives fans at home “something that the customer in the arena can’t see,” he added.
Prime Video is also adding a fantasy basketball integration with Yahoo Sports. Viewers who link their accounts will see their fantasy rosters and real-time stats on screen during games. They’ll also get recommendations for live and upcoming games featuring players on their teams.
Amazon debuted “NBA on Prime” last October with a Celtics-Knicks game — reviewed by GeekWire — the first under an 11-year deal that gives the company exclusive rights to select regular-season and playoff games. Bloomberg reported that Amazon is paying about $1.8 billion annually for the rights.
This season, Amazon says it will stream more than 100 regular-season and postseason games. In the playoffs, that includes the Play-In Tournament exclusively, select first- and second-round games, and, for the first time, exclusive coverage of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Several tech-driven extras from the first season are back. Fans can again track their active FanDuel bets during broadcasts, though they still can’t place wagers through Prime Video. The Prime Vision alternate stream returns as well, serving as a testing ground for AI-powered stats and graphics, such as flagging offensive players in position to score, that can graduate to the main broadcast.
The “NBA on Prime” season opener is Oct. 23, with a doubleheader: the defending champion New York Knicks host the Boston Celtics at 4 p.m. PT, followed by the Houston Rockets against the San Antonio Spurs in Austin at 6:30 p.m. PT.
The programming is included with a Prime membership, which costs $139 a year or $14.99 a month. Games stream in English and Spanish on the Prime Video app and the web.
